Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Religion within Reason by Steven M. Cahn (review)

Religion within Reason by Steven M. Cahn (review) BOOK REVIEW Religion within Reason. By Steven M. Cahn, New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. Pp. 105. ISBN 978-0-231-18161-7. Reviewed by Oliver Leaman University of Kentucky oleaman@uky.edu Although this book has the merit of being short, it is short in a bad way, since there is almost nothing of significance in it. About 90 pages of text might seem a short read, but since there is very little argument in it the passage from start to finish is tedious. There seems to be a stage that some philosophers go through of approaching a topic they do not know much about and thinking they have got to the essence of it by ignoring the detail, while in fact they have entirely bypassed the important issues. Some call this approach provocative, and it probably is a correct description, in the same way that a heckler who shouts out at a political rally "liar" is being provocative. No-one would claim that he or she is contributing to political philosophy, though. Cahn keeps on quoting a religious passage and then dismissing it because the obvious interpretation of it is problematic, and this reader kept on thinking "yes but". Such passages can mean so http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Philosophy East and West University of Hawai'I Press

Religion within Reason by Steven M. Cahn (review)

Philosophy East and West , Volume 68 (2) – Apr 10, 2018

Loading next page...
 
/lp/university-of-hawai-i-press/religion-within-reason-by-steven-m-cahn-review-8rcNAiYMsT

References

References for this paper are not available at this time. We will be adding them shortly, thank you for your patience.

Publisher
University of Hawai'I Press
Copyright
Copyright © 2008 University of Hawai'i Press.
ISSN
1529-1898

Abstract

BOOK REVIEW Religion within Reason. By Steven M. Cahn, New York: Columbia University Press, 2017. Pp. 105. ISBN 978-0-231-18161-7. Reviewed by Oliver Leaman University of Kentucky oleaman@uky.edu Although this book has the merit of being short, it is short in a bad way, since there is almost nothing of significance in it. About 90 pages of text might seem a short read, but since there is very little argument in it the passage from start to finish is tedious. There seems to be a stage that some philosophers go through of approaching a topic they do not know much about and thinking they have got to the essence of it by ignoring the detail, while in fact they have entirely bypassed the important issues. Some call this approach provocative, and it probably is a correct description, in the same way that a heckler who shouts out at a political rally "liar" is being provocative. No-one would claim that he or she is contributing to political philosophy, though. Cahn keeps on quoting a religious passage and then dismissing it because the obvious interpretation of it is problematic, and this reader kept on thinking "yes but". Such passages can mean so

Journal

Philosophy East and WestUniversity of Hawai'I Press

Published: Apr 10, 2018

There are no references for this article.